Chapter 9

Author’s note: Occasionally, I get ahead of myself. There’s a scene or a day that I’m moving the story toward, and that target is such an important part that I break down and either outline it in depth or simply write it or particularly important parts of it. This entry to Beth Outtakes is an excellent example. The premier-team’s post-season get-together in the compound was to be how I advanced the story into the nebulously considered sequel I had been considering. I do not recall when I wrote what is presented here, but it was months, many months ahead of when I would need it. Suffice it to say ... er, write ... that the relevant portion of the story that I wound up writing and published entirely preempted this chunk of story. First, the story as published had the LA developing a friendship with Crewe earlier and altered Crewe’s backstory from what I’d originally written. The most important difference between canon and this outtake is bringing forward in Beth time the development of the storyline that this chapter was supposed to initialize. Oh, well.

“Okay, Dakota. What did you and your committee decide for the special, family aspect of our team party?”

“Team nudity.”

There were a few loud inhalations, but given how much that statement surprised me, the seemingly few such inhalations got me wondering how big the “committee” was. I was not too surprised when Coach asked that very question.

Civia replied, “Most of the team members who don’t live here.”

I was coming to understand but, again, Coach asked the question I was pondering.

“Why would you want that?”

Rathi nearly caused me to become teary with, “We’ve all learned that we can be naked together in the shower and we’ve done a bit of ... minor rough-housing in there that has involved being ... slightly more ... intimate with each other and we’ve had fun with it. Besides, Coach, we’ve become something like family this season. This might be the very last time that all of us will be together ... ever, and we’d like to have something very special to remember about why this team was so incredible. We love each other as teammates, and that’s one of the main reasons we did so well this year, because we were all in this for each other, not for stats, not for glory, but for love of our ... family. ‘Family’ on three. One, two, three...”

A loud cry of “Family,” rocked everyone’s ears.

“We have two guys here. Do they get excluded?”

Crewe surprised me by loudly exclaiming, “No! Seamus and Brett ... and all the staff are just as much family as Rathi and Beth and Dakota!”

“Do you understand that they will not be able to avoid having erections?”

“We do,” replied Dakota. More softly, she stated, “Many of us got together to talk about this. Most of us have not seen ... penises, but we agreed that while we would not be able to keep from looking occasionally, that’s all we would do, despite how ... yummy ... both Seamus and Brett are.”

There was much tittering, and I noted that both guys were somewhat red-faced.

“Dakota, you keep surprising me at how unlike your previous self you are this year. I commend you for the strides you’ve made in bringing out the ... tigress in you.”

“Thanks, Coach, but, Coach, if you allow this, you need to be naked, too. You’re family, too. In fact, you’re our matriarch.”

In the four years I have played for Coach, I had never seen her at such a loss for words, and Dakota doubled down on her advantage.

“Coach, you’ve been an inspiration to us. We know that you were on the cusp of playing for the national team but tore your knee up. It’s obvious to us that, at times, your knee bothers you, but you never complain, you never take out your pain on us, and that you care for us, maybe even love us in some measure. Even though we’ll be losing most of what made this team so incredible, those of us still playing for you next year will be as good as we can be, do as well as we can do, because you’re our Coach, and will always be our Coach.”

I had seen Coach almost lose it a few times over the four years I have played for her but had never seen her truly lose it ... until then. She did not cry for long, but she had tears on her cheeks when she looked around at the team, some of whom, like me, had tears running down their own cheeks.

A bit haltingly because of her emotions, Coach said, “I have never said this to any team before, no matter how much I liked them as individuals or as a team, but this has been my very favorite team, and I greatly appreciate your words, Dakota” She then picked a winning stratagem by saying, “I suspect that you’re going to be a captain next year.”

Dakota looked at her feet and blushed.

“Does every team member and staff member want this? Brett, Seamus, don’t give an answer that you think you should. Give the answer you feel in your heart. Can you two do this? Can you have something like 30 girls and women seeing every part of you without reacting to the sexual excitement you’ll certainly feel at seeing all these naked young girls? And can you keep this all to yourself ... for the rest of your lives? I trust you two with almost anything, but can I completely trust you with these girls’ reputations? Before you answer, please consider what happens to these girls if word gets out about this.”

The guys pondered. Although I had no worries about Brett in that vein and few about Seamus, although we know him much less well than we do Brett.

Seamus replied, “I’d have no problem keeping this to myself, no matter what happens here. What happens in the Williams compound stays in the Williams compound. I like all these girls a lot, so much so, that I’d have been willing to be an assistant for the team with no remuneration at all, because I’ve found this year to be so very satisfying, both in learning so much about coaching from you, but also getting to know an incredible set of girls that I will remember very fondly for the rest of my life. I can’t imagine having a better introduction to coaching than what I got this year with this team. Thanks, Coach, and thanks so very much, girls.”

Coach responded, “Thanks, Seamus.”

Brett added, “As all of you know, I live here in the compound with many team members and assistants. If we do this, please, please don’t tell any non-team member. Be aware that any suggestion of this to anyone could cause incredibly horrible ramifications for those in charge here, like Coach, but also the adult assistants, as well as the parents of some of the girls because they own the compound. You must not tell anyone. If you think you cannot manage that, then everyone will keep their suits on. Period.”

Kanda responded, “I’ll add to Brett’s words. If someone here lets this out, I can guarantee that you’ll never again have any of us as friends. In fact, we will be your bitterest enemies, and I will do all I can to bring about the pain for you that letting this out would cause for so many here who I like and love. I promise that with all my being.”

Tonda spoke up, saying, “I second Kanda, but I’d like to point out that this is not something sexual we do. This is celebrating our friendship, our team in an intimate way, and I do not mean ‘intimate’ with its sexual connotation. We don’t do it because it’s sexy. We don’t do it because our two guys are so wonderful and attractive. We do this for us, for no one else. We do it because we’re family and we love each other.”

When there was no further response, Coach asked each team member and assistant, individually, to promise to keep to themselves what we were about to do.

Once each had promised, Coach said, “Because there will certainly be a lot of curiosity, please remember, no staring at the guys’ penises, and certainly no touching.”

There was much rejoicing, although Sophia said, “Coach, I suggest slightly different wording.” When Coach gave her the go-ahead signal, she added, “Big groups in pools can get rambunctious. While no one should be rambunctious outside the pool unless well away from it, actions such as dunking others or swimming underwater and pulling someone’s legs out from under them are, in my opinion, harmless. Of course, such actions should absolutely not be cover for touching someone sexually. I would be fine with Brett pulling my feet from under me or Rathi dunking Seamus, but either Brett or Rathi using that as an opportunity to touch sexually is far outside of what anyone should do and such actions would be very disrespectful of anyone, much less family members.”

Once everyone was naked with most jumping in the pool, I sidled up to Coach and asked, “Why did you agree to this?”

She gazed into my eyes for a bit, then answered, “I’m not entirely sure. However, much of the reason is that I was on a team very much like this one at this age. We had a team party ... and it was just like this one, except we had no male staff.” She continued to gaze, then asked, “Why did you agree to this?”

I glanced over both shoulders, breathed deeply, then answered, “This is how we live.”

Her eyes widened slightly, and then she said quietly, “I wondered about that. It’s been obvious that ... you and that gang of yours was very different this year, both relative to last year’s premier team and to the high-school team. Please feel free to tell me to mind my own business, but I assume that Brett is included in that nudity.” When I nodded, she stated, “Despite how intelligent and careful I know you to be, I need to ask. Are you all protected?”

I nodded again and she gazed at me further, then said, “I’ve been trying to figure you girls out. I suspected something like this and considered asking early in the season, but you were all so happy, which is not the typical mien of children who are being abused.”

“Coach, we’re not at all abused. We’re all in love.”

“How did you get four of the five seniors involved?”

“It started with Meka telling us that her dad was terminal. Kim got sucked in by Meka being with us. Katie worked her way in because of the gravity of Meka and Kim, and then Rache followed. The five seniors were very close friends at 14-15, but that got ... not quite shattered by Meka withdrawing because of Jim’s diagnosis. We’re all ... somewhat concerned by Hope, as none of us have heard from her for a while.”

She closed her eyes, rattled her brain, then said, “I assume that you girls are still working hard at keeping Meka ... here, mentally.”

“Actually, she was ... prepared for his death, but had he not had the four-month reprieve presumably provided by his treatment ... She was not at all prepared for him to die in February or March. I don’t know what would have happened had he not gotten that ... extra three or four months, but I know it would not have been as ... relatively easy as it was, and it wasn’t easy ... for any of us.”

“Do I infer correctly that he was...”

“Yes. He was, and despite that he was dying and knew he was dying, he ... impacted all of us with his calm intelligence and gigantic heart.”

I gritted my teeth after those last words to stave off crying, and after a quarter-minute or so, I said, “Every one of us misses him, but we try to keep in the forefronts of our minds all the positives he provided us. We’re ... as a group ... much better off than we’d have been without him spending so much of the last few months of his life with us. We believe, fiercely, that we also helped him to enjoy those last few months, and the ... sex ... was not the most important aspect of his happiness here. He...”

I had to pause again as emotions flooded me, and Coach surprised me by doing something I’d never seen her do with any player as she pulled me into her, held me tightly, and comforted me. Because I am so used to the feeling, she held me in her embrace for nearly two minutes before I realized ... or remembered that we were both naked. That realization knocked my mind onto a different track, and I was about to say something when Coach beat me to the punch.

“Because of ... my ... base sexual orientation, I never expected to have children, so I’ve invested maternal feelings in my teams. Some of those ... children were difficult, some were quite pleasant. Some of the more difficult, I managed to ... influence in a different direction. For some, nothing worked. This team, as it developed from the point you and Rhee joined it, kept getting ... more interesting, more enjoyable as ... surrogate children. I thought last summer, particularly at the end, at the awards dinner, that I’d never have a better team, a team made up of so many worthwhile children. This year’s team completely surprised me. This team is so good, but more importantly it’s so ... tight, although that togetherness is part of why it’s so good.”